Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Nowadays almost all of us find it more challenging than ever to meet successfully the demands of our job or business and the rest of our life. For many of us the boundary between our work life and personal life is not really clear mainly because of technology and 24/7 connectivity. Even when we are eating dinner with our family or going to bed, we still sneak a peek at our emails on our smart phone. Many of us are addicted to our devices and in the habit of checking emails and being on call 24/7.

Today’s competition has turned us into workaholics. Many people seriously believe that achieving a true balance between work and personal life is impossible if we want success in our career or business. There is nothing wrong with wanting to work hard. We've all heard the popular advice that if you want to be successful, you have to work hard. All of us want to give our families a good home and a comfortable life. But while taking care of their financial needs, we neglect their emotional needs,

We cannot deny that work isn’t separate from life — it’s a part of it. For some people, it’s not a fun part of life, but for others, it’s a passion. Either way, it’s a part of our lives, good or bad. But no matter how hard we work, it's important to find a healthy balance between our work life and personal life. Achieving true work-life balance is not easy. Actually it is a challenge for everyone. But, for the sake of our peace and well-being, it's something we really need to make happen. Here are some useful tips that can help us to find the balance:

1) Work Smart:

Many people work mechanically without properly applying their intelligence. Being successful in today's demanding and fast paced work environment has led many to believe spending long hours at work is the main contributor to increased productivity. But this is a false assumption. Being at work doesn't necessarily mean that work is actually getting done. The trick is learning how to work smarter.

Stephen Covey tells a story about a woodcutter whose saw gets blunter and blunter as time passes and he continues cutting down trees. If the woodcutter were to stop sawing, sharpen his saw, and go back to cutting the tree with a sharp blade, he would actually save time and effort in the long run. It is very useful to remember the analogy.

2) Learn To Delegate

Effectively delegating tasks we don't have to do ourselves can go a long way in helping us to achieve a better work/life balance.

3) Eliminate Time Wasters:

We may be able to find more time for our family if we make a conscious effort to limit the time we spend on the Television, web and social media sites, making long personal calls, or chit-chatting. We often get sucked into these habits that are making us much less efficient without realizing it. Take stock of activities that don't enhance your career or personal life, and minimize the time you spend on them.

4) Schedule time blocks in work:

Scheduling time throughout a week for all the things that are important to us will ensure that we get everything in and that work doesn’t overwhelm the schedule. But it is better not to over-schedule, filling up every free minute, because no schedule is kept to the minute. Better to have space between our time blocks than to have to skip something because the previous block ran too long.

5) Make dates with family and friends:

Instead of just saying, “I want to spend more time with my family and friends”, it is better actually making dates with them. That might mean romantic dates with your spouse or significant other, or non-romantic dates with your friends or kids or other family members. Plan to be with them on a regular basis to do something together. It doesn’t even have to cost a lot of money — it could be something simple like taking a walk in the park or playing games with them or cooking dinner for each other or watching a good movie with them. We do this because if there's nothing on the schedule, time tends to get frittered away and the weekend may end without us spending quality time together

6) Make dates with yourself:

Often we make time for our family or other loved ones, but we neglect ourselves. Schedule time for yourself, doing something you love doing by yourself like reading, playing. And set aside a separate time for exercising or meditation or yoga. Just make the time and don’t miss that date! Research has shown that making a little time and space for you is really important for your own happiness and will have a ripple effect to those around you. And it doesn't need to be much. For example just 10 minutes of mindfulness practice a day or 20 minutes of exercise can make a huge difference in your energy levels, your emotional state and your coping ability. Or fitting in some time for a hobby or leisure activity that you enjoy or find meaningful - even it is just an hour a week.

Even during a hectic day, you can take 10 or 15 minutes to do something that will recharge your batteries. "Take a bath, read a trashy novel, go for a walk, or listen to music," a researcher says. "You have to make a little time for the things that ignite your joy." And it will surely help to boost your energy level and ability to concentrate.

7) Examine your life regularly:

Often our lives become derailed from the track we set it on, and as a result we don’t realize where our lives are going until we really examine them. Or we can get so caught up in a routine that we don’t realize we can change it. Regular self reflection will help us to change. So set a separate time for self reflection and think about how your life is going, how you’re spending your time, and decide whether you need to make changes. Then schedule time to make those changes immediately — or make the changes right away if possible.

8) Love your work or find a work that you love:

Discover and decide what you love and you could make a living doing. Be imaginative. Every possible passion or hobby can be turned into a business or a job or a new career in one way or another. Explore the possibilities and find what suits your talents and capacities. Or see the positive aspects of your work and start loving it.

9) Take Rest

On the seventh day, even God rested. For workaholics, the day of rest never comes. There is always one more email to read, one more phone call to take, one more critically important trip to the office that can't wait until Monday. Most of the workaholics will be compelled to take rest in the hospitals. Some of them may never return to work. May we have wisdom not to join their list!

Saturday, May 31, 2014

Balan lost his job again recently and was totally at a loss as to how to spend
the endless time hanging on him. His wife could never get him to do anything
around the house also. He would sleep till noon and then sit in front of the
T.V, read newspaper, eat, and sit day dreaming. This frustrated his wife a lot
and she always nagged him. Finally she cut off the cable connection and threw
water on him if he slept after 6 o’clock in the morning.

So he was getting bored – utterly bored. As he couldn’t sleep
or watch T.V, the only task he was performing was, reading newspaper from first
to last page and a few magazines from cover to cover. Earlier he would have a
grazing glance at the headlines and then rush to office. Now he had time to go
through all the pages and read the peppy and juicy stuff also. But he was unable to read that also peacefully
because of his wife’s constant nagging.

He was not against jobs. But he hated office politics and mean
minded bosses. He hated long hours of work and getting poor salary. In work
places there are hidden meanings for all colourful words. If management welcomes you with "Join
our fast-paced team” it really means “We have no time to train you”. If management says “Your work is deadline
oriented”, be sure that it means “You'll be three months behind schedule on
your first day”. If they say “Duties will vary” it surely means “Anyone in the
office can boss you around”. Even if they say “All the Best” it really means
“You are in trouble”. These are his lessons from previous jobs.

Even
though he learned so many lessons from past experiences he was called ‘an
idiot’ by previous bosses. The last boss said, “If brains were taxed, you'd get
a refund”. He didn’t understand what that means because he was not familiar
with income tax rules. So he ignored the comment. His motto was “Aim Low, Reach
Your Goals, and Avoid Disappointment”. Though his motto was worldly-wise, his
previous employers were not intelligent enough to appreciate it.

And almost all the bosses had double standards - one for the
worker and another for themselves. ‘When you take a long time,
you’re slow.
When your boss takes a long time, he’s thorough. When you don’t do it,
you’re lazy. When your boss doesn’t do it, he’s too busy. When you
make a mistake, you’re an idiot. When your boss makes a mistake,
he’s only human. When you take a stand, you’re being bull-headed. When
your boss does it, he’s being firm’. He disliked working for such bosses. To
his misfortune he didn’t find a different boss.

And going to jobs was not really easy for him. He worried about
riding through the jam packed traffic. He worried about getting into the
already overloaded city buses. He worried about subjecting himself to
pickpockets. He worried about getting late to office. His wife refused to
understand his hardships and ordered him to find a job immediately. Unable to
endure boredom and his wife’s constant nagging finally he decided to find a
job.

Balan had a strong faith in starting things or making new
attempts only on auspicious days and at auspicious hours. Though many people
made sarcastic remarks about his strong belief, he didn’t care. “Does anyone
get married on any inauspicious day or at Raaghu Kaalam?” So he wanted to start
his new venture also on an auspicious day only. He took out panchangam and
jotted down the auspicious days during the week and timings available, so that
he could contact his would-be employers at the lucky times.

On the first auspicious day he attended a walk-in interview.
In the interview he was asked, “"Why did you leave your last job?"

"It was something my boss said."

"What did he say?"

"’you’re fired!’" he said truthfully. They didn’t
appreciate his answer. He was not selected for the job.

He waited for next auspicious day, so that at least his second
attempt would be successful. Very soon the day dawned. Invoking the blessings
from all Gods and Goddesses, he applied for a job and luckily got it. Even the
zodiac fortune for the day clearly stated “a great deal awaits you. But don’t
make an impulsive move”.

He was given the job of assistant to the boss. They didn’t
inform him the duties of an assistant properly. So he sat idly for the most of
the time day dreaming. The boss was very exasperated with his new assistant as
the assistant didn’t even pick up the telephone when it rang. "You must
answer the telephone," he told Balan irritably. Balan explained patiently
"I answered many times. But nine times out of ten, it's for you!" The
boss exploded with rage.

Next day the boss had an
exasperating phone conversation with one of his teenage sons. After hanging up,
he heaved a sigh and said, "No one ever listens to me." Balan overheard
the conversation and dutifully replied with understanding, “yes I do." The
boss found it too much to bear and fired him from the job.

For the third job Balan tried ‘Numerology’ and
selected a lucky day. The day was really lucky as Balan was selected. The new
boss seemed to understand what Balan was made of and decided to give him
simple works. First he told Balan to take a Xerox copy of a very important
document. Balan searched for the Xerox
machine and finally stood before the paper shredder looking confused.

"Need some help?" a friendly employee asked.

"Yes," he replied. "How does this thing work?"

"Simple," he said, taking the fat document from Balan’s hand and
feeding it into the shredder.

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

All of us have thoughts and feeling of inadequacy many
times. But inadequacy will become
inferiority complex if we always have the following characteristics.

1)
Constant comparison with others

2)
High sensitivity to criticism

3)
Fault finding and making others small so that
you can look bigger

4)
Hunger for flattery

5)
Social withdrawal

6)
Envy and Jealousy

7)
Self-pity

The root cause of inferiority complex is wrong
perception, rather than what is actually the case. We draw conclusions based
on our evaluation of past experiences. Mostly these evaluations are not facts,
but our distorted perceptions.

Remember the simple truth – no one is perfect. We
all have our strengths and weaknesses. So let us not fall in the trap of
comparison. Let us love ourselves. We are the creations of God. God cannot create inferior products. So let us
find out our plus points and go on improving ourselves. Then there will not be
any room for inferiority complex.